METROIDVANIAS of 2025: Top 10 BEST And NEW Games you NEED to Play

[@VDGMS]

What's your top ten Metroidvania list for 2025? What game got left off the list?

[@zakarianasraoui7162]

Eden's guardian even though it still has no announced release date, but i could see it up there with blasphemous

[@uni-minichromi]

say, silksong. SAY IT!

[@sebastianwarmbrodt6725]

Silksong when

[@VDGMS]

I’ll say 2025 until December 31st at 1159pm.

[@bearpoop720]

Never

[@vjkanaparthy273]

@@VDGMS so another year? x10000 and i agree.

[@zzzr0wlit]

​@@VDGMS I bet it will be a shadow drop lol

[@pluuf]

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound sounds and looks awesome, I cant wait!

[@VDGMS]

Looks like a very fun combination featuring some old and new.

[@MetroidvaniaGuru]

Solid list. I’m actually super stoked for the Pac-Man MV 😆

[@VDGMS]

Same. Looks fun and even looks to implement the classic pac man gameplay in some sections. Knowing this was coming would have made the Secret Level episode a lot less confusing. What’s your top three coming in 2025?

[@MetroidvaniaGuru]

@ I’m going with Altered Alma, Constance, and Ender Magnolia. You should definitely check em out.

[@VDGMS]

Constance almost made the list. Curious about that one for sure! The concept has potential.

[@HanaNoMaude]

Ninja gaiden, earth blade and metroid are probably my most hyped from this list for this year but they’re all promising looking games that have been on my radar since they were announced! But first up in the Metroidvania space for me this year will be Ender Magnolia when it hits 1.0 in just a couple weeks!!

[@VDGMS]

Yeah I thought it came out last year. Have you avoided all the spoilers?

[@HanaNoMaude]

@ PC early access last March but this month will be 1.0 for both PC & consoles! And no spoilers for me, haven’t watched videos of it and I’m 99% a console player so I didn’t dip into the early access

[@VDGMS]

I figured based on it being high on your list. I wish there was more early access on consoles. Xbox has the occasional game preview title.

[@HanaNoMaude]

@ agreed, although at least lately consoles seem to be getting more demos pre release so that’s a step towards something I guess!

[@ScruffysBucket]

Good list, I would add Constance as well

[@VDGMS]

It was a close call. Constance was almost on the list. Thanks for checking it out.

[@freakingcoolindies]

MIO looks stunning Was absolutely shocked (in the best way possible) when Pac-Man was announced as a proper game after the secret level EP was released Celeste X metroidvania = YES PLEASE Metroid Prime 4 is gonna be the reason I buy a switch 2 - cannot wait! Ninja Gaiden, although being the first announcement of the game awards, was my favourite announcement! Could not pick a better team to take on this IP Great list as always, and it clearly feels like we as the fans of the genre will all be the winners in 2025! 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@VDGMS]

It’s unlikely that both Crowsworn and Silksong come out this year, but it could happen. If one of those games comes out plus the rest of this list. That’s a pretty amazing year for the genre and loads that didn’t make the top ten. What’s your #1?

[@chachachachachachacg]

Me when I watch a video just to see silk song being talked about, lol

[@VDGMS]

Wasn’t trying to sugarcoat it or hide it at the end. First one to talk about and 2025 is as good of year as any for this game.

[@DodgerOfSheep]

Are all metroidvanias these days also souls-like? I've never had the patience for them and it looks like my favourite genre is being taken over by them.

[@VDGMS]

It does seem like it is heading that way towards a more timing and patience based combat. However, the good news is that it seems like a lot more are offering plenty of options depending on the experience you want. Tune the combat, puzzles and platforming etc. Everybody wins!

[@MaddyPup19450]

9:55 I don't like the Metroidvania label either. They are 2D Action Adventure games. Zelda games share all the conventions of "Metroidvania" games except they are 3D or isometric in the case of older games. Zelda is an action adventure game. Therefore, "Metroidvania" games are just 2D action adventure games. It's insulting for all these games to be implicitly labeled as a ripoff of Metroid and / or Castlevania when they are literally just making 2D Action Adventure games full stop.

[@VDGMS]

Explor-action as EXOK games calls it.

[@MaddyPup19450]

@VDGMS that's fine. I'm less offended by sub-genre delineations like this than I am with genres that reference other games. It would be like calling hundreds of bands in the 90s "Nirvana-likes" instead of grunge.

[@tiagocosmos]

I think Ninja Gaiden Ragebound is not gonna be a metroidvania, though. Just a linear action platformer

[@VDGMS]

Very likely it will stick to the roots and just be a platformer. However, the press release said “upgradable abilities”, combined that with The Game Kitchen developing and I think there’s a decent chance it could be either. No matter what, it looks great. What’s your most anticipated this year?

[@joppida]

the first video i saw of yours i subscribed fun lists, well described.. and appreciate the push for a positive space but the amount of just copying and pasting y’all do in your vids is losing me i’ve heard the same exact word for word copy and paste script about silksong and crowsworn and many others in like 5 different videos now makes it feel like AI..shit maybe it is idk

[@VDGMS]

Thanks for the feedback. When creating multiple lists for 2025, there was bound to be some overlap. We write everything ourselves, but there is going to be some overlap when you are talking about "top indies" in one list and "top metroidvanias" on another for example. We have tweaked it for each video, but we will look at rewording even better so it doesn't feel too similar in future lists if things overlap like this again.